36 volunteers (26 females, 10 males) who wished to quit smoking were randomly assigned to one of two groups which differed only in their level of physical activity. Both groups participated twice weekly in a standard group counselling smoking cessation program for 5 weeks; the experimental group also participated twice weekly in an aerobic exercise program and subjects in this group were encouraged to be as physically active as possible throughout the 5 weeks of program. Body weight predicted maximum oxygen intake, resting heart rate, carbon monoxide level and smoking behaviour score were recorded at the initial test, post-test, and at one, 3 and 6 months following the end of the treatment. Subjects Motivation Inventory at the initial test. Using smoking behaviour score (the mean number of cigarettes smoked per day during the previous week) as a measure of smoking cessation, it was found that no statistically significant difference existed at any time during the course of the study, but a significant F value was found over time. When the number of subjects who had actually quit smoking in each group was examined there was no significant difference in this measure of smoking behaviour at the post-test or at the one, 3 and 6 month follow-up sessions.

Full text (sometimes free) may be available at these link(s):      help

• PubMed
• PDF locator
• publisher